A Look Back At The Shutdown, In Photos

Children from a Head Start program in Washington, D.C., join supporters and members of Congress on Oct. 2 to call for an end to the shutdown and to fund the comprehensive education, health and nutrition service for low-income children and their families.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaks during a protest held by furloughed federal workers outside the Capitol on Oct. 4. The workers demanded an end to the lockout of federal employees caused by the government shutdown.

President Obama talks with children and adult volunteers at Martha's Table in Washington, D.C., on Monday. The nonprofit organization helps low-income and homeless families. Many of the volunteers over the past couple weeks were furloughed federal workers.

Jackson Blendowski, 6, peers up at the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on Oct. 13. The Statue of Liberty reopened to the public after the state of New York agreed to shoulder the costs of running the site during the shutdown.

Members of the House of Representatives depart after a late-night vote Wednesday on legislation to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown. President Obama signed the bill just after midnight.

A National Park Service employee posts a sign on a barricade in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, the first day of the U.S. government shutdown.

Carolyn Kaster
/ AP

Originally published on October 17, 2013 4:12 pm

The budget fight that led to a partial federal government shutdown finally came to an end late Wednesday.

For 16 days, beginning at midnight on Oct. 1, hundreds of thousands of federal employees were told not to come to work. Museums, monuments, libraries and parks were closed across the country.

There were protests and anger from some furloughed workers, while others spent their time off volunteering for the needy. Some states sought to fill the void left by the shutdown by using their own funds to keep national parks and monuments like the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the Statue of Liberty in New York open and ready for tourists.